I never told Ash I thought Celine should be thankful because she didn’t deserve the company. That wretched girl was also the reason I’d never sell this house. If anyone found her body, they’d blame Ash. We’d promised we’d do anything to protect each other, and I would rather die than break my word.

In the end, getting away with it hadn’t been complicated. People tend to have short memories and hardly anyone mentioned Celine these days. Of course, nobody else knew she was dead, but even with Keenan I could already tell it would be the same. They’d call his death a tragic accident. Poor guy working underneath his car after having a few beers. They’d shake their heads, mourn awhile and say a prayer or two before getting on with their busy lives. That’s the way things worked when someone died. People paid attention for a while and then moved on. Forgot. It’s how it had been with Mom and Brad. Give it a little time, and hardly anyone cared.

35

ASH

I stared at my stepsister, trying to comprehend what she’d told me, but all the doubt crumbled away as the memories of what happened that night slipped back into place.

Celine had died because of us. We’d hidden it from the world. She was buried on the grounds. How could we have done such a thing? How could we lie to Celine’s family for years, pretend their daughter, their sister, had run away? We were abominable, that much was certain now, but looking at Maya, her face a picture of pure calm, I realized she felt no guilt about what we’d done. Given the chance, if we had the ability to go back in time, it seemed she’d make the same decision all over again, and if we’d done something so despicable once...

My legs buckled as I sank to my knees, all my strength and resolve flowing out of my body and into the ground. “What really happened to Kate? You have to tell me—”

“Let’s go to the house,” she said, reaching for my hands, trying to pull me up, but as she did, there was a dull thud from somewhere inside the garage. “Get up, Ash.” Maya raised her voice and yanked on my arms again. “Come on, let’s go now and I’ll tell you everything else.”